Zalbar's Tale
by Xangelic-demonicX
Summary: Zalbar, is anything but normal. She has the potential to become the next legendary assassin. She has the skills to BLOW STUFF UP...er not really. She ends up meeting Train, and finds herself at a loss at what to do. PLEASE R&R.
1. The Girl Named Zalbar

**Chapter 1: The Girl named Zalbar**

This is not the kind of life you would want to have...

My name is Zalbar. My parents came up with the name through playing Kingdom Hearts, the video game. I was quite a small baby for my age and they wanted to make sure that I would be able to protect myself, so they gave me what they believed was a strong name, only, it didn't really help with things.

I was a normal girl starting grade 9 in high school. Being quite small for my age, I had always been natural target for school bullies. I was used to it.

"Ha! Punk! Watch where you're going!" a guy said, "Oh wait...lookee here, it's a short little girl! Haha! Go back to kindergarten midget!"

His friends all burst out laughing.

Ignore them, I thought to myself, they're just a bunch of small fry.

Truthfully, I've always liked reading fiction. I've always wished I was stronger and more independent. I even read the comics and wish I was a superhero for the matter.

"Forget it," I told myself, no one's EVER gonna take me seriously.

I looked at my schedule. French, English, Science and Drama. All my worst subjects combined into a semester. Then again, I'm no good at anything. I sighed. There was not one human in the world who had a worse life than me.

I bumped into this large kid.

"Whoa! Check it out! You must be the shrimpiest shrimp I've ever seen!" the guy said.

I looked down and tried to walk past him. He held his arm out and grabbed me by the shoulder. I turned around.

"Don't be in a rush to leave, shrimp! I wanna play basketball with you! You wanna be the ball?" the guy continued.

I struggled for him to let go of me, but to no avail.

"Leave her alone...cowards...can't pick on anyone bigger than shrimp," a voice said.

I turned to see who it was.

I didn't really recognize the young boy. He was approximately my age, maybe a little older, and he was...really short...too.

"And who are you to decide who I can pick on?" the guy asked.

The boy glared at him.

The bully flinched. "Yeah, well, I'll let you off easy this time kid, but next time I'll totally...beat you up," he said.

And then the guy ran away.

That was awkward.

"Hi," the boy said, "I'm Semix. You're Zalbar, right?"

I nodded.

"Ah, nice to meet you," he said.

The way he said it, you'd almost think he had been waiting for me for a millenia.

"Nice to meet you too. By the way, thanks for rescuing me back there..."

"No problem," he said, "just helping out a fellow Mind..."

"What?"

Why did he break off in mid-sentence? Who or what was a Mind...?

He coughed. "Just helping out a fellow student..."

"Oh, well, thanks."

"No problem," he said, "I'll see you around."

I walked off to my English class, pondering about what Semix had said. I sat down in class, daydreaming about Semix.

"Zalbar? Zalbar? Is there a student named Zalbar here?" the teacher asked.

I snapped back into reality.

"Yes sir!" I raised my hand.

"Ah, Zalbar! I see...check!" the teacher said.

The teacher finished taking attendance and started with the introductions.

"My name is Mr. Janus Hazard. You may call me Mr. Hazard or just Janus, whichever you may prefer," Mr. Hazard said. "I'm a new teacher to this school, just like you guys, and I probably won't be staying long. I'm only here as a substitute for a teacher on maternity leave. So, let's start with the introductions!"

We went around the classroom and everybody said their name, their hobbies and their goals for the future. Coincidentally, I saw Semix in my class too.

"Hi. My name is Semix. I...have failed this class once..." he began.

Everyone laughed.

"But...I intend to pass it this time. And, I'd rather not talk about my goals or my hobbies," he said as he sat down.

That was...subtle... I thought about his speech for a short amount of time, because soon enough, it was my turn. I got up out of my seat abruptly.

"Well, here's an enthusiastic one!" Mr. Hazard said.

"I'm...I'm Zalbar. Er...I like playing games and uh...I want to be a skilled gunner when I grow up. I want to help defend the helpless people."

Everybody burst out laughing except Semix and the teacher. I immediately felt embarrassed. Semix looked at me expectantly.

"Now now class, everyone has different dreams. There is nothing to be embarrassed about, Zalbar. But is it quite IRONIC...hm..." Mr. Hazard broke off. "Well, now that the introductions are done, why don't we do some work? And uh...Zalbar...I want to see you after class."

I froze in shock. What did I do wrong? I immediately looked over to Semix for an answer. He didn't look back, instead, he was staring at...Mr. Hazard. I stared at Semix, then at the teacher, and I sighed. I must be paranoid.

The rest of the class went by pretty quickly. The English worksheet we did was simple, I breezed through it easily.

"Zalbar!" Mr. Hazard called as he waved.

I went over to the teacher's desk. We waited until everyone had packed up and left.

Mr. Hazard sighed. "You're not gonna let this go are you?" he asked, staring directly at me.

I paused, wondering what he meant. The answer came a few seconds later.

"No, I'm not," the voice said.


	2. Chronos and the Minders

**Chapter 2: Chronos and the Minders**

"Didn't think so. Well, then, let's take this to the roof," Mr. Hazard said.

I turned around to realize that Semix was still standing there, staring me straight in the face.

Mr. Hazard turned towards the door and beckoned for Semix to follow. I stared at the two of them and thought that I was insane for a second there.

"Come on," Semix said as he yanked my hand.

We made our way to the roof of the building until I finally regained my sense of reality.

"What's going on?" I demanded as I shook free of his grip.

Semix turned around slowly to look at my eyes. He began to explain.

"The world is not what you thought it was, it's simple," he said.

"What? Why are you telling me this? What do I have to do with this?"

"You will be the leader of a revolution," he said gloriously.

"What? Who are you?" Then, I turned to face Mr. Hazard, "and who the hell are you?"

They both laughed.

"I suppose we should explain first, before we start a mess," Mr. Hazard said, "don't you think, Minder?"

"Agreed," Semix said as he nodded his head.

"What...?"

Mind..er? That rang a dim bell. "Just helping out a fellow Mind..." Was he trying to say Minder back there?

"What's a Minder?"

Mr. Hazard started explaining, "There was a war a while back, between the organization I belong to, Chronos, and a group of people called the Minders. They were..."

Semix cut in, "Let me explain this without bias please."

"As you wish," Mr. Hazard said.

"The Minders are a clan of strong fighters. We are given a choice of weapon approximately around your age. We imagine the weapon in our head and it becomes reality," he said.

Abruptly a large guitar with an axe head popped into his arms.

I took a step back.

"Oh come on," he said, "this is not nearly as repulsive as his weapon!" He pointed at Mr. Hazard.

I wasn't stepping back because it was repulsive, this fact just freaked me out. Wait...hold it, backtracking...

"You said, we...? You don't mean...?"

"Yes, Zalbar, you and I are the last of the Minders," he said, "We're the last of our kind after the war against Chronos."

He pointed at Mr. Hazard, again.

"So...this Chronos, are they Minders too?"

"Oh please," Mr. Hazard said, "Chronos is an organization that controls 1/3 of the world, subtly. We help maintain peace between countries. However, to do this, we need to get rid of the troublesome figures in the society. There are a group of high-ranking assassins within Chronos called the Chronos Numbers."

And with that, he undid his tie and ripped off a piece of his shirt over his shoulder.

I stared, VII?

"I'm number VII of the Chronos Numbers. Janus Hazard. You can just call me Janus. There are more or less XIII Chronos Numbers in total currently," Janus explained. "And well, I've been assigned to keep bring you back to the organization. The Elders have been keeping tabs on you, Zalbar, and decided that you might be a good candidate for a Number. It's a very high honour, you should be glad. But since I'm here, I might as well kill the traitor there. All his talk about rebellion is really starting to cause troubles for the Elders."

Semix rolled his eyes. "Sit back and enjoy the show, Zalbar," he said, "I'll explain more when this is over."

"Unfortunately, you won't be there to explain anything when this is over," Janus said.

"Either way, one of us isn't going to survive this," Semix said.

"True," Janus agreed.

And then, the battle erupted.


	3. My Weapon

**Chapter 3: My Weapon**

Janus pulled out a glove with the symbol VII inscribed into it. With a quick flick of his wrist, he knocked me to the sidelines.

How did he do that?

Looking at my horror-stricken face, he said, "Excelion has very thin orichalcon wires attached to the tips. Anyways, let's get this started, Minder."

Semix growled.

He lunged forward with his "guitar axe" in hand. Semix strummed his guitar and a strong current of air swept towards Janus.

Janus bent down and violently swung his hand at an incredible speed.

"Hm..." Janus said, "nice weapon, too bad the one using it isn't trained properly."

I had just realized what Janus had done. He SLICED the air into pieces.

"Let's make this brief," Semix said.

"Of course," Janus answered. "I would be happy to oblige."

Janus ran forward and caught both of Semix's feet in a bind. Semix, immediately seeing the danger he was in, extended his axe and swung at Janus.

"Ah...the naivete of teens, it's cute, really," he said, as he ducked.

He gripped Semix's legs tighter and Semix immediately fell on his side. Janus reached for his "guitar axe" and hurled it at Semix.

He was in no position to dodge whatsoever. His weapon fell on his body and crushed half of his body. I froze in place, my mind not registering what had just happened.

A teacher, had just murdered a student...

No wait, a Chronos Number had just assassinated one of the last Minders...

I couldn't help but want to take a closer look.

"Zalbar..." Semix croaked, "I'm sorry."

And with that, he disappeared, along with his weapon, into thin air.

"Well," Janus said, "that's that."

I stared at him. How could he kill so mercilessly? I was immediately enraged by his comment.

"You!"

Janus turned towards me.

"Oh, hm...this is getting interesting," he said.

I felt a sudden surge of power in my body. I thought back to my birthright, my name. Zalbar. As I embraced my birthright, a large light began to glow on my hand. The light expanded slowly, and when it stopped glowing, I realized what it was.

A gun that resembled that of Xigbar's one of a kind, only, it was black.

"Oh, a gun, and it's made of orichalcon," Janus said, as he laughed. "You really do amuse me! I LIKE IT!"

Okay...what was with the sudden split personality change? Wait...he's just trying to distract you. FOCUS ZALBAR!

I lifted the gun up, I wasn't used to the weight at all. It was so heavy! I had to struggle with both hands to manage to lift the gun up and point it at Janus.

"Woah, woah, hold up," he said, "you're not supposed to be pointing it at me, I don't want to hurt a fine lady such as yourself."

"Try me," I gritted through my teeth.

He killed Semix, the only friend I had. He wasn't about to get away with it.

"Well, if this the only way to make you listen, so be it," he said.

He assumed his fighting stance again and turned back into the serious person he was just a couple of minutes ago.

"Like I said, Minders aren't very efficient at using their weapons, Heartnet could teach you better," he said. "Haha! You really do remind me of a female version of Heartnet...hm...in that case..."

Heartnet? Forget it, he's just trying to distract me.

His wires came in quick, I had no time to react at all. He bound my hands to the sides of my body, and with another quick flick of the wrist, he rolled me, like a carpet.

When I was within arm's length, he reached out and grabbed by neck with his open hand.

"Well kid," he said as he snickered, "do you want to live?"


	4. The Decision

**Chapter 4: The Decision**

I honestly wasn't sure. Was there anything worth living for, after Semix died? Oh wait...why the hell am I even caring...I barely knew him for a couple of hours, why should I ruin my life for him?

But this Janus...he scared me. If I lived, I may have ended up spending my whole life with him. I had no one else. My parents died when I was young, though I tried to think of this as little as possible. All in all, I didn't want to kill like him, but...

"I...I want to...live."

I paused, unsure of my answer. It was the decision I had made, and a decision I would be sticking to. Janus stared at me.

"Good answer," he said, "come with me, I'll introduce you to the world, or at least 1/3 of it."

I stood there, questioning the decision I had just made. Did I really do the right thing? Does this Chronos really hold the key to my future?

I sat there, pondering the answer to all these questions while Janus pulled out a phone.

"Hey...I uh...blew my cover. Uh...huh... Yeah well, I found the kid with the Minder...yeah...uh huh...so, I'll need a copter...okay...yep that's fine. See you later," Janus said.

"Who was that?" I asked, slightly curious.

"Oh, my superior, No.I," Janus said.

No. I? The name eluded me.

"We're going to wait for the helicopter to pick us up at the large graveyard, over there," he said, pointing at a flat plain in the distance.

"Uh huh...so, how're we gonna get there?"

"Oh...we're uh...WALKING!" he said, seeming to be delighted by the thought.

I froze. Walking? It was like a decent 50 km trek.

"Forget it, I'm out of here. I want a normal life. I don't want to be some assassin."

I turned towards the door to the school. Almost instantly, I felt someone behind me, holding me back.

"Oh, I probably forgot to mention, once you agree to work for Chronos, you're in it for good," Janus said, letting go of me.

"Remind me when I decided to work for Chronos?"

I continued to walk towards the exit of the roof.

"I can always kill you now if you want," he said, "but I'd prefer not to waste the talent of a fine girl such as yourself."

He steered me back to the edge of the building. I gave up. There was no way I could beat him in combat right now, and I honestly did not want to die. Not now.

"Jump," he commanded.

I froze, looking at the gap between the buildings.

"Aw...COME ON!" he said, "you're a minder, you can fly, but you're afraid to jump the gap!"

"I'm NOT afra....wait a second...I can FLY?"

"Well apparently you can use your weapon without having to move at all, like that uh...what's his face guy?" he said.

I didn't even bother to care that he didn't remember Semix's name anymore.

I was more into flying at the moment. My weapon was still in my hand. I dropped it, hoping it would be able to levitate if I willed it to.

CLANG!

It fell on the ground.

Janus stared from the weapon to my face, and then to the weapon again.

"Pick it up," he said.

I bent down obediently and picked it up.

"Now come stand here," he said.

I stood on the edge of the building.

"Now get rid of the weapon," he instructed.

"How?"

"I dunno, I'm not a Minder, but if you can make the gun appear from thin air, you should be able to make it disappear too!" he said.

I shut my eyes. This was the most stupid thing I had ever done, EVER, in my whole life.

_Uh...yeah...I don't need you anymore...thanks..._

That was dumb.

I opened my eyes, and the gun was still in my hand.

"I think it may need a name," he said.

"What? That's dumb."

"Well, you're going to have to give it a name eventually," he said, "may as well be now."

Fine.

"How about Xiggun?"

"You have poor choices in names, but sure, why not," he said.

I leaned back and punched him in the face.

"OW!" he cried, "You're not supposed you punch your temporary sempai, sheesh."

I giggled. His "in pain" sound completely runied my respect for him.

"Just make the weapon disappear," he said.

"Fine, fine."

_Hey thanks...Xiggun...take a break for now._ My hand got lighter. I opened my eyes.

"Not bad, princess!" Janus said.

I was tempted to slap him again. He saw the anger in my eyes.

"Well, then, and down you go," he said quickly, interrupting the moment.

He gave me a light push. That really ticked me off. I was tempted to go back and kick him this time, only...I realized something...

He gave me a light push alright, a light push off the building. I was falling...fast.


	5. Xiggun and Dinnance

**Chapter 5: Xiggun and Dinnance**

"Why the hell did you push me off the building, you dim-witted ass!"

I screamed as I fell.

"Life and death situations provoke adrenaline," was his simple answer.

It was slightly too simple for me. I'm glad I didn't die. If I had died, I wouldn't have been able to totally POUND him later.

I stopped falling within the first couple of seconds, I had landed on something. Only this something was floating, in mid-air.

"What is this thing?"

I pointed at the metal bar I was sitting on.

"Nice, you have a long orichalcon lance too," Janus said, "Not bad...quite talented in my opinion. I'm just wondering how it activated...What did you say?"

"ALL I SAID WAS YOU DIM-WITTED ASS!!!"

The lance disappeared. Oh shoot.

"You dinwittnass..." I shouted quickly.

I stopped falling again. I sighed in relief.

_Go, up._

The lance understood and brought me up to where Janus was.

"Cool!" he said, marveling at my new abilites. "Apparently, you dim-witted ass triggers the lance, nice."

I smacked him again.

"I wouldn't call anything you dim-witted ass. How about...Dinnance?"

The lance disappeared. Apparently Dinnance worked.

"Again...the name is debatable, but sure," he said. "So, I was looking forward to walking there, but flying is much more fashionable, the ladies fall for it more."

I smacked him, again...this time really hard.

"There's no way I'm going to let you ride with me!"

"Well, princess...it's either that or I'll knock you off your own weapon and you can walk," Janus said, recovering.

I wasn't going to win this one. He'd had tons more experience than me.

"Fine."

"Let's go!!!" he said.

I put my hand out in front of me and waited for the lance to appear. Poof.

"Get on," I said with reluctance.

"Why thank you princess!" he said.

Yeah, I swear, if I was a bull, you'd be seeing the smoke coming out of my nostrils.

_Go. Fly, to that graveyard over there._

The lance understood, and flew.

"Ha! This is so much fun!" he said, both hands in the air.

"Shut up."

"Not gonna happen," he said.

Seriously, he had a split personality problem, a big one.

_180 flip please, Dinnance._

I grabbed on tightly. Unfortunately, he wasn't ready, but I was sure he wouldn't fall to his death or anything. He was crafty. I was thinking of picking him up later.

"So mean," he yelled back as he fell.

Almost a split second later, I felt myself lurch towards the front of the lance. I looked down.

He used Excelion's wires as an anchor to swing back up. Snap. This is the strength of one of the Numbers. As he swung a full circle and back onto the lance, he stuck his tongue out at me.

"Pfft..."

I was glad he was only my temporary sempai, if he was my permanent sempai, I most likely would have murdered him by now.

I crossed my arms and rode in silence for the rest of the way.


	6. The Meeting Place

**Chapter 6: The Meeting Place**

As we got closer and closer to the graveyard, I was too busy scheming about how to throw him off my ride to notice that the copter was there, with a woman standing in front, already waiting for us.

Damn. We're almost there. Gotta throw him off somehow.

I pushed him gently off the lance, yeah right, like that's gonna move him. Surprisingly, he did move, he spun around and fell off the lance.

Oh shoot. I've really done it now.

But honestly though, how many times do I have to fall for this?

He used Excelion again to grab onto the lance as we got close enough to the ground for him to stand on it. Then he grabbed the lance and hurled it (including me) towards the ground.

My bad. I am stupid.

I fell face-forward on the ground as Dinnance disappeared. Ouch. I spat out the dirt that I had accidentally ate.

"Janus!" the woman said.

"She was bothering me," was Janus' simple answer.

"Too bad, I was going to get you to train her," she said.

"That might be impossible," he said.

The woman stared deeply into his eyes and nodded.

"I see..." she said.

I finally managed to get up from the ground. My eyes met hers and I noticed how beautiful she was.

"Hi," she said, hand held out, "I'm Sephiria, the commander of the Time Guardians."

"Time Guardians, Sephiria?"

"Chronos Numbers, Time Guardians, same difference. And oh! Call her Seph-nee! I always..." Janus paused.

I moved my hand behind me to smack him.

Sephiria glanced at the two of us.

"I see what you meant, Janus..." she said. "Hm...I guess I may have to arrange for Belze to train you."

Oh great, another new name.

Seeing my puzzled face, she said, "Belze is 2nd in command in the Time Guardians, ."

Oh, so I'm getting trained by this skilled guy. Joy. I think the game they're playing is called "Make me feel worse with every passing second."

I remained silent for the duration of their discussion. The conversation got to a degree of difficulty where the only words I could make out were unknown names...Janus...and this... Heartnet.

"Who's Heartnet?" I asked as my curiousity peaked.

They both turned to look at me like I was some idiot. To be honest, I was, at the moment.

"Who's Heartnet?" I asked again, slightly louder.

Janus burst out laughing. "You mean you don't know the most famous assassin of the Underworld? Black Cat not ringing bells?"

"Now now Janus, this poor kid's been pretty much living under a rock her whole life, so cut her some slack," Sephiria said with a smile.

Gee, thanks.

"He is...sorry, was an assassin for the Chronos Numbers, the very best, you could say. But something happened one day and he quit being an assassin, he's a sweeper now," she explained.

"A sweeper?"

"A person who catches criminals for a bounty," she said. "However, if he leaks out anything about Chronos, we could all be in big trouble."

Oh...

"So...is he like a traitor?"

"Yes," she said.

"Don't you guys assassinate people like him?"

"Yes...however," she said.

"So, why don't you?"

"Like I said...I lack some of the means to kill Train Heartnet..." she said.

"What is he stronger than you or something?"

"No...not in terms of strength, well, maybe, arguably...but...I respect his decision and I place a lot of trust in him. He's chosen a good way of life, sometimes I might even say that I envy him a little," she said, sighing.

I paused. No one spoke.

"Anyways, we'd better get going," she said. "Put this on her."

And...we took off in the copter. It was my first time riding on one of these. I would've liked to see the view from above. Unfortunately, I was blindfolded to protect the secrecy of the organization. I hated these things.


	7. Chronos

**Chapter 7: Chronos**

We arrived as what was more commonly known as...a business building.

"Chronos," I said as I read the company name. "Is this it?"

"No," Janus said. "You think we use a business building as a hideout?"

We calmly strode into the building and walked over to the elevator.

"Close your eyes," Sephiria said.

I did as instructed. I heard a little beeping in the elevator and a sudden downward rush. After a couple of seconds, Sephiria talked again.

"Okay, now, follow me," Sephiria said.

"Can I open my eyes?"

"Yes," she said, slightly annoyed.

I followed her down a long hallway and into this black room, with only a couple of candles lit.

"No.I," a booming voice said.

"Yes," Sephiria answered.

"Is this the girl?" the voice asked again.

A screen suddenly appeared with an old-looking man on it. He was kind of creepy actually.

"Yes," Sephiria said.

"Ah. Very interesting," the man said.

I stood there, unsure of what I should have been doing.

"So, who will be the one to look after her?" the man asked.

"I had originally appointed Janus, but there were a couple of complications. I would like to ask Belze to look after this young one," Sephiria said.

" just left on a mission," the man said. "Why not No.X?"

No.X?

"Xiao? I hadn't thought of him," Sephiria said. "Understood. I will call No. X immediately."

And with that, the man on the screen disappeared.

"Come this way," Sephiria said with no emotion.

She led me to a Japansese tatami room. Although quite plain in my opinion, it had a relaxing nature to it.

I watched in silence as Sephiria pulled out a phone and started dialing. A couple of minutes later, she nodded and hung up.

"Wait here, he'll be here in a few minutes," she said.

And with that, she got up and left the room. I paced around for a while, checked the door every so often, and then, I finally had enough and I walked out the door.

I was almost immediately grabbed by the neck.

"Where do you think you're going, little princess?" Janus asked.

I cursed as he threw me back into the room. However, after a couple of more minutes, I got what I had been waiting for.

I could hear whispering outside as the door creaked open slowly. I stood up from where I had been sitting.

"Oh, here he is," Janus said.

And as the door swept open, in stepped...


	8. No X Lin Xiao Li

**Chapter 8: No.X Lin Xiao Li**

"SEMIX? What are you doing here?"

No wait, it couldn't be Semix...he was way too tall to be Semix.

"Who, no wait, what the hell are you?"

"Semix" chuckled.

"Oh...I beg your pardon, my name's Lin Xiao Li. You can just call me Xiao. I'm No.X of the Chronos Numbers," Xiao said. "Sorry for using these crude methods of introducing myself, I just wanted to see what effect it would have on you."

And with that, he ripped off his face.

"Oh my, god! But Semix, you...face...change?"

That face-switching, ripping off thing really wasn't attractive.

"My apologies for the alarm, my nickname is 'the Magician.' I can change the appearance of my face in a mere seconds," he said.

Ew... Somehow, that sounded REALLY disgusting. Awkward silence.

"Starting today, I'll be training you to be one of the Chronos Numbers, tentatively XIV," Xiao said. "I'm not really a teacher, and from what I hear, you're a reluctant student, so, I don't really need you to get along with me. I just need to work hard for both of our sakes. Is that clear?"

Janus chuckled in the corner.

"I think you two would get along pretty well. Being that serious and all," Janus said.

I slowly walked over to him and raised my hand. He backed away into the wall.

"Whoa, little princess!" Janus said.

Just as I was about to land a punch on him, a sudden gust of wind caught me off balance and I was thrown against the wall with a kick from Xiao. My back made a cracking sound.

That's bad, right?

"Don't show any emotions, rule #1 of being an assassin," Xiao said.

Janus laughed again.

"You, really are merciless," Janus mocked.

Xiao slammed the door shut. On the other side, I could have sworn I heard Janus groan when the door slammed into his face. I couldn't help but laugh.

Xiao approached me, and smacked me again.

"No emotions, remember?" he said. "Now, let's begin, you'll be training in this room for a while. Everyday I want 400 laps around this room, 300 push-ups, and 500 sit-ups, no cheating either. Do that for a while and I'll come back to see your progression."

"Wait, what about meals?"

"Only when you earn them, I'll bring them to you from time to time," he said with a grin.

Okay, that didn't sound so bad...but the earn them part sounded too hard for my liking.

Wait...I have a feeling I'm forgetting something important...

"OH YEAH! MY PARENTS? School? What the HELL am I supposed to do about that?"

"Don't worry," Xiao said with no emotion. "It's all been taken care of. Chronos has covered up for your absences at school and I took care of parents personally, so..."

Oh joy...wait...

"Took...care...of?"

"Disposed of your parents personally," Xiao interjected.

Oh, so, he disposed of my parents...

"Wait...DISPOSED OF? AS IN, KILLED?"

"Yes, killed, what did you think?" Xiao asked.

"HOW COULD YOU JUST KILL THEM?!?"

"Easy, I ripped them apart with Seiren," Xiao said calmly.

"What the hell do they have to do with this?"

"They're unnecessary to your development as an assassin," Xiao said.

"Why you!!!"

I charged up towards him and readied a punch. He stood there, unmoving and staring straight ahead. I faked for his stomach and aimed for his head. He dodged easily by leaning forward and disappeared.

Where the heck was he?

The answer came a second later when I felt a sharp pain on my neck where he had struck me. I collapsed onto the ground, spitting blood.

"In a real battle, you would have been dead," Xiao said. "Oh, I forgot to mention, and until you can give me a flat out punch to the face, you're not leaving this room."

How long would that take?

"A couple months if you're fast, a couple years if you're slow," he chuckled as he left the room.

A couple years? I quickly got up and charged towards him, and this time, he pulled out a long cloth and spun in around himself.

_Xiggun._

I fired at him, several times, but he easily dodged the bullets and came straight at me with his cloth. I immediately felt something wrap around me and it rendered me immobile. He clasped my throat with his hand once more.

"Oh, so you have a gun, just like the former XIII. Interesting guy. Anyways, checkmate," he said.

He let go of me again and I collapsed onto the floor.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours. Got another mission. A) You better not try to escape because I will break a couple of your leg bones if you do and B) You better be done 400 laps by the time I get back, or I'll hurt you," he said. "See you later."

And with that, he closed the door and left me on the ground, wimpering. I wanted to escape, but I had absolutely no doubt that he would hunt me down and kill me after. I didn't want to die at this point in my life. I was afraid to get hurt too, because our difference in power was easily noticeable, even to someone like me. So, I just decided to follow his instructions for now, I'd make sure to kill him one day.

I got up slowly, and started running.

Janus' POV

The door closed slowly behind Xiao. I chuckled.

"You're too cruel."

"That girl's got a lot of potential, I don't want to waste time with her," Xiao said. "I have a job I need to do, I hope you'll see that she gets proper punishment if she tries to escape?"

"Of course."

"I'll be back shortly, Janus, don't do anything strange," he said.

I couldn't help but grin as he walked down the dark hallway.


	9. Visiting Hours

**Chapter 9: Visiting Hours**

I was only done about 280 laps when I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I stopped and waited quietly in a corner, pretending to be panting a lot.

The door creaked open and Xiao entered the room.

"I'm done."

Xiao examined me thoroughly and shook his head.

"You're only done 283," Xiao said. "300 push-ups, now, for lying."

How the heck did he know? I didn't even know.

"Hurry up," Xiao said, coming over to me.

I assumed a push-up position and started.

"How did you know?"

"There are security cameras in this room, Janus outside is keeping count for me, you're not complaining nearly enough and you're not sweating nearly enough," he said simply.

Wow, that's a lot of reasons for knowing I'm lying. But strange, I checked the room before for security cameras and didn't see any.

"They're hidden," Xiao said calmly.

How did he know what I was thinking?

"You're really easy to read," he said. "You might want to change that in the future."

I groaned. This guy was really starting to annoy me.

"Hurry up, finish your push-ups and keep running," Xiao said.

Suddenly, there was a crushing pain against my back. It felt like I was being stepped on...the truth was, I was being stepped on.

"What the?"

"If you can't even do push-ups like this then you're hopeless," Xiao said.

I was quite tempted to shut him up, but I did not feel able at the moment. He was holding me at a very inconvienient position for me to retaliate from. Then, I'll...

Dinnance.

I summoned my lance and nailed him in the face with it. Or, I thought I nailed him in the face. I heard a faint chuckle as I turned around.

"Too slow," Xiao said.

He caught the lance in his hand and readied his other hand to punch me. I rolled over on the ground and narrowly dodged his punch. However, then, unexpectedly, he kicked my side and sent me flying to the wall.

Truthfully, it really hurt. Not like I was about to admit it though.

"You still need to do a lot of training, like I said, you're not getting out of this room until you can land a solid punch on me. At this rate, you're going to have to stay here for a couple of years before you're even going to come close to landing a solid punch on me," Xiao said.

I growled angrily, and groaned in pain at the same time. I decided that for the time being, it was better just to follow orders in order to get stronger. I'd kill him one day.

"Now hurry up, and get back to running laps," Xiao said.

"Hold on, what about lunch?"

"After you're done the running," Xiao said. "I have to go now."

Carefully, I got up slowly and resumed the running procedure. I watched as Xiao opened the door and closed it behind him.

This may take longer than I had originally thought.


End file.
